and for many days he was seen by those, who had accompany'd him from Galilee to Jerusalem: and they are now his witnesses to the people.

As they were leaving, the people begged that these matters be presented to them the following Sabbath.

and after the congregation had broken up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism allied themselves with Paul and Barnabas, and they kept talking to them and urging them to continue to rely on the unmerited favor of God.

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to oppose what Paul was saying by insulting him.

So Paul and Barnabas spoke out fearlessly. "The word of God," they said, "had to be spoken to you in the first instance; but as you push it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, well, here we turn to the Gentiles!

When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the message of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.

But the Jews incited the prominent women, who worshiped God, and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district.

But they shook the dust off their feet against them and went to Iconium.

As for the disciples, they were filled with joy and the holy Spirit.

The same thing happened in Iconium; they entered the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

So they stayed there for some time and spoke boldly in reliance on the Lord, who testified to the message of His grace by granting that signs and wonders be performed through them.

they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian towns called Lystra and Derbe, and to the surrounding countryside.

And there they kept evangelizing.

At Lystra they met a certain man sitting [on the street] who had a crippling handicap in his feet which he had suffered since birth. [It was so severe] he was never able to walk.

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!”

And they started to call Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the main speaker.

The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:

cry'd out, "sirs, what are you going to do? we are but men as well as you, and we exhort you to renounce these vanities, and turn to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth and the sea, and all that they contain:

Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they had won over the crowds and stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

After they had evangelized that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,

Making strong the souls of the disciples, saying to them that they were to keep the faith, and that we have to go through troubles of all sorts to come into the kingdom of God.

When they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

After they spoke the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been entrusted to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

And they spent a considerable time with the disciples.

Some people came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers that unless they were circumcised as Moses prescribed, they could not be saved.

But after Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, the church arranged for Paul and Barnabas and some others of them to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem concerning this controversy.

When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, explaining in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they created great joy among all the brothers.

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

And some of those who were of the sect of the Pharisees, who believed, rose up from among them, saying that they ought to circumcise them and enjoin them to keep the law of Moses.

And when there had been much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, My brothers, you have knowledge that some time back it was God's pleasure that by my mouth the good news might be given to the Gentiles so that they might have faith.

On the contrary, we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.”

And all the multitude kept silence; and they hearkened unto Barnabas and Paul rehearsing what signs and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles through them.

After they stopped speaking, James responded: “Brothers, listen to me!

And this was predicted by the message of the prophets when they wrote [Amos 9:11ff],

So that they remaining of men might seek out the Lord, and all the nations upon whom my name has been called upon them, says the Lord, making all these.

But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole congregation, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas, called also Barsabbas, and Silas, which were chief men among the brethren:

They wrote this letter to be delivered by them:

From the apostles and the elders, your brothers,

To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings.

We have heard that certain [men] who left here have been upsetting you people and [even] undermining [some people's] spiritual lives by what they have been teaching. This was done without our authorization [or approval].

we have sent, therefore, Judas and Silas, and they by word are telling the same things.

Then, being sent off, they went down to Antioch, and after gathering the assembly, they delivered the letter.

When they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

they being also prophets, they consolated and confirm'd the brethren by several discourses.

After spending some time there, they were sent back in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas, along with many others, remained in Antioch teaching and proclaiming the message of the Lord.

After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers in every town where we have preached the message of the Lord and see how they’re doing.” Barnabas wanted to take along John Mark. But Paul did not think it appropriate to take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work. There was such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus. Then Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended to the grace of the Lord by the brothers. He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Paul and Barnabas, however, remained in Antioch, where they taught and, with the help of many others, told the Good News of the Lord's Message.

After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers in every town where we have preached the message of the Lord and see how they’re doing.”

but Paul held the opinion they should not take this one along, who departed from them in Pamphylia and did not accompany them in the work.

There was such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.

Among other places Paul went to Derbe and Lystra. At the latter place they found a disciple, named Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess who had become a believer in Christ, while his father was a Greek,

Paul wanted Timothy to go with him, so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for them to observe.

Therefore, the churches were established in the faith, and they increased in number daily.

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in Asia.

When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

So, bypassing Mysia, they came down to Troas.

This girl kept following Paul and the rest of us, shrieking, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming to you a way of salvation."

When her owners saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

and they proclaim customs that are not lawful for us to receive nor to do, being Romans.'

The crowd also joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and ordered that Paul and Silas be beaten with rods.

After they had inflicted many blows on them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to keep them securely guarded.

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.

But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to smuggle us out secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out!”

Then the police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

So they came and apologized to them, and escorting them out, they urged them to leave town.

After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and departed.

Then they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

So some of them were convinced, and they joined Paul and Silas; also quite a number of devout Greeks and not a few women of the first rank.

But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some scoundrels from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly.

When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too,

and Jason has received them as guests! They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king—Jesus!”

And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.

So taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea. On arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that God’s message had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and disturbing the crowds.

The brothers then sent off Paul at once on his way to the sea, while Silas and Timotheus remained where they were.

Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.

Some of the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers began to debate with him; and some said, "What is this scraps-of-truth-picker trying to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities." They said so because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you’re speaking of?

For some of the things you bring sound startling to us; so we want to know just what they mean."

he receives no service from their officiousness: he is self-sufficient: it is he that gives to all their life and breath and every thing they have.

From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.

He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:

When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him. But others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.”

and being of the same occupation, stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook his robe and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

“This man,” they said, “persuades people to worship God contrary to the law!”

but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; I am not minded to be a judge of these matters.

Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judge’s bench. But none of these things concerned Gallio.

When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and engaged in discussion with the Jews.

And though they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined,

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home and explained the way of God to him more accurately.